The work of the Go master

"Huh?!" Bamboo Blade looked up in shock and found that the light across the intersection was indeed red, so he slunk back.

Finally, Ke Zhiguang himself arrived at Peach Blossom Studio.

A celebratory banner has been hung at the entrance of Peach Blossom Studio to celebrate Ke Zhiguang's victory in the new Dragon Throne title battle.

"The Emperor is returning to the capital!" The Daoists at the entrance shouted, and the entire apartment building immediately sprang into action.

A crowd of people lined the corridor and poured out of the rooms, celebrating Ke Zhiguang's return as if he were a hero returning in triumph.

Hmm... It feels a bit different from before. In the past, when he returned victorious, the entire apartment was filled with awe and people would practically beg for mercy from him.

There are two explanations for this. The first explanation can be borrowed from the joke about the deer on the island of Qingdao. The period immediately after the division was set is called the landing of the man-eating monster, but after he successfully seizes the throne, one of the highest honors, the Emperor is about to arrive at the Peach Blossom Abode, which is loyal to him.

But there is another explanation, which is that... the older generation of fellow practitioners who were traumatized by him have moved out, and the new practitioners are learning chess while listening to his legendary stories.

After all, this Peach Blossom Studio is mainly rented to students of the academy, and the tenants change frequently. Some people succeed and cross that dragon gate, while others fail and become disheartened, returning to their hometowns to work in electronics factories or urea factories.

But there will always be new people coming in, those who are not yet adults, or even children who are only around 12 years old. Fresh blood flows into this field, and the chess world is constantly evolving.

Just like the Go game in the motherland in the past, the Dragon Generation, Tiger Generation, and Leopard Generation refer to Go players of three generations: old, middle-aged, and young.

Ke Zhiguang took the trophy out of his suitcase, held it up, and walked into the welcoming crowd. The cheers were like petals falling.

Entering Peach Blossom Studio and passing through the long corridor, the peach trees in the courtyard are in full bloom.

His photo is also displayed on the honor wall of the Peach Blossom Restaurant, with the titles of "Rising Star + Famous General + Dragon Throne + Youngest 9th Dan".

On the table below the photo are several magazines, all with Ke Zhiguang on the cover. These are not only magazines for the chess world, but also various social magazines.

The honorary titles bestowed upon him by these magazines are even more numerous and outrageous, including things like "feminist fighter"... which probably refers to the fact that his team includes a group of female chess players.

He became famous overnight.

Arriving on the third floor—

After nearly a month, I finally returned to my own front door.

Ke Zhiguang gently pushed the door open, and a familiar scene came into view.

Logically, it's easy to tell whether a room has been occupied for a long time, but this room, which had been empty for almost a month, was still full of life, spotless, and with everything in order.

The bathroom was steaming, and Ke Zhiguang had reason to believe that the hot water had been turned on the instant he opened the door.

Ke Zhiguang dragged his luggage into the room and placed the trophy on the display shelf... It couldn't fit; the trophy was too big.

This seems to be a formal announcement that it's time for him to move to a larger space.

Sure enough, the curtain over the desk and chessboard had been raised high again, and the treasure chest was ready.

And lying on the curtain was an extra card: "Welcome Home".

Chapter Ninety-Three: After the Story

Looking at the "Welcome Home" sign at the top, Ke Zhiguang felt very gratified.

Yes, that's exactly the feeling.

I can't quite describe the feeling, but that's just how it is.

The answers to the mysteries that interested him lay beneath this veil.

Ke Zhiguang ceremonially placed his hand on the curtain, then with a final burst of strength lifted it—

Appeared.

The task review notebook that Ke Zhiguang cares about most.

Item 1: [Tatsumi Koshikawa's Personal File]

As if to fit his style, the notebook cover is purple, the title is written crookedly, and the background vaguely shows elements of the K-pop style... If you didn't know better, you would think it was "The Call of That Something".

Ke Zhiguang opened it, and this person's experiences flowed before his eyes like a film in a projection room.

The story begins with that shipwreck. It was also a dark night, with a powerful hurricane raging on the dark sea. Coupled with the captain's mistake, a cruise ship carrying thousands of people capsized.

[Note: The Summoning of the Mother of Calamity]

The Mother of Calamity is the wooden sculpture of the eight-headed serpent that Ke Zhiguang saw in the residence of the Yagami Kingdom. The smugglers only regarded it as an ordinary work of art, just that its appearance was rather frightening, but they did not expect that this thing itself was a living creature.

The only prop with its own thoughts.

All calamity items originated from it.

That concludes the explanation of this item.

Whether it's a dragon ritual or a painting of a demonic dragon, they all have a historical origin, such as the Dosaku period of the Edo era or the Sengoku period of the Nikkai era. But when it comes to the Yamata no Orochi, which seems to be the most worthy of being written about, there is no explanation at all.

Ke Zhiguang's first reaction was that there's not much Japanese history to cover, and they don't have enough material to make up.

But upon closer reflection, perhaps the name Yamata no Orochi itself already indicates its origin.

The Yamata no Orochi originates from the Kojiki, Japan's first history book. However, although it is called the first history book, it was actually 712 years ago, the same year that Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended the throne in the neighboring Tang Dynasty.

And it just so happens that the character “碁” first appeared in the book “Kojiki”, referring to the earliest form of Go in Japan.

Gang and Yamata no Orochi were born in the same year.

It makes one wonder if there's some connection between them.

Ke Zhiguang put the notebook aside for the time being and began to think deeply.

Recalling history, recalling my own impressions of Go...

They actually remembered something.

Although the character 碁 first appeared in 712, according to reliable historical records, Emperor Tenmu summoned court nobles to play Go in the palace in 685.

However, in 689, Emperor Toji banned Go, and it was not lifted until 701, twelve years later.

The reason for the twelve-year ban was that chess was rampant among the people, and it was also a form of gambling, which seriously affected production and labor. As a result, chess had to be suppressed with the same severity as Buddhism.

However, this is only a record from Japan itself. The real record is from the official history of China, the Book of Sui, Biography of Wa (Japan), dated 636 AD: "The Wa people are fond of chess, slingshot, and dice games."

Thinking about these key historical junctures, a somewhat conspiracy theory-like idea formed in my mind.

Many mythical creatures and monsters in Japan originated in China. If Daji could become Tamamo-no-Mae in Japan, then Go (the board game) might actually become Yamata no Orochi in Japan.

The moment Go arrived in Japan, something ominous was quietly brewing and growing stronger. Its ban in 689 was probably because the rulers realized some kind of metaphysical danger.

The Yamata no Orochi is the source of this danger.

The oldest item from the underworld, bar none.

It represents not just a particular player, but an entire era, and even Go itself.

It is suggested that the Dragon Gift was born from Dao Ce's own negative emotions, and the birth of the Yamata no Orochi may also be related to negative emotions, or at the very least, it can absorb negative emotions.

The twelve-year ban on chess finally suppressed the Yamata no Orochi, but it did not die. Instead, it lurked in the shadows, incubating one after another underworld artifact.

It remained hidden and dormant for over a thousand years until one day in 1974 when it was smuggled out as an ordinary cultural relic. It was on this very ship that it was finally brought to its end by another evil dragon.

Ke Zhiguang continued browsing the notebook—

On that night in 1974, there were no superhuman survivors who could withstand a nuclear explosion to save the ship; all the ordinary passengers risked their lives to withstand the disaster.

As the ship rocked violently, the Yamata no Orochi, as if it had gained self-awareness, slid off the ground without resistance while tilting, and the warehouse door opened automatically. It then plunged into the sea without any obstruction.

If everything goes according to plan, it won't be long before it's caught by fishermen on some Japanese coast and returns to this land, back to its nest.

But what it didn't expect was that when it fell into the sea, a boy with an overly strong will to survive clung to it as if it were a lifeline, hoping that the wooden object would carry him to the surface.

This boy is none other than Tatsumi Koshikawa, who is only 15 years old.

Although he suffered from severe depression and bought a one-way ticket, intending to end his life in a romantic setting, his will to live suddenly exploded when disaster actually struck.

Things took an unexpected turn. Although it was made of wood, it had poor buoyancy, and with a boy added to it, it would definitely sink.

At this point, the only way to resolve the issue is through a duel between chess players!

Hmm... it sounds surprisingly funny.

One can vaguely imagine the conversation between Orochi and Tatsumi Koshikawa at that time—

Orochi: "Fuck you! You bastard, aren't you looking to die? Let go of me!"

Koshikawa Tatsumi: "Fuck you! I've changed my mind. I've decided not to die. If you disagree, we'll die together!"

That's about it...

Thus, the two engaged in a duel deep within their consciousness, a contest that could be played without a physical chessboard.

The duel ended in victory for Tatsumi Koshikawa, who was once pushed to the brink of defeat but ultimately managed to turn the tide.

Although there is no game record, Ke Zhiguang can imagine his winning strategy—sacrificing a dragon and then counter-attacking it.

In a sense, they are the same as themselves.

Thus, the Yamata no Orochi, the ancestral underworld artifact that had roamed Japan for a thousand years, was officially declared dead.

When Koshikawa Tatsumi woke up, he found himself in a Japanese hospital, becoming one of the very few survivors of the accident.

But when he woke up and returned home, he suddenly discovered something on the chessboard... This scenario is so familiar.

It turns out that, besides himself, there are other people who can also farm items on the chessboard by winning games.

Upon hearing this, Ke Zhiguang also remembered that during his match with Yuechuan Longji, they seemed to have talked a lot in the game world, as if he was quite familiar with it.

That's hard to say; we can't judge whether he has the same abilities as us based solely on this incident.

In the world of the game, I can be considered rational, yet clearly aware of its existence, and even capable of making a few sarcastic remarks. However, Koshikawa Tatsumi appears much more emotional; while he can converse with me, he may not truly perceive this world...

It's just that mysterious.

In 1974, he found something on the chessboard: an address pointing to the record store.

This music and video store is the lair of the Yamata no Orochi, filled with things from the underworld.

As history has changed, the Yamata no Orochi has also been updating its lair in line with the times. It started as a rice shop, then a bookstore, and in modern times it is a video store. The location has also been changing, but it is mainly concentrated in densely populated big cities.

But what they all have in common is their ability to deliver small products to customers, thereby planting the seeds of misfortune.

Misfortune is the best way to extract a lot of negative emotions, and Orochi knows this well.

Although its nest looks very old, it can automatically drive away idlers. This is why that video store can occupy such an expensive area in the port area, but it is not noticed by others.

From then on, Tatsumi Koshikawa became the new owner of the shop.